


hand in hand

by polkadot



Category: Tennis RPF
Genre: Holding Hands, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-25
Updated: 2014-01-25
Packaged: 2018-01-10 00:11:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1152489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/polkadot/pseuds/polkadot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Of blisters, and dreams, and holding hands.</p>
            </blockquote>





	hand in hand

**Author's Note:**

> 1) Set immediately after Rafa's semifinal victory over Roger Federer at the 2014 Australian Open. For pictures of the infamous blister, google - I'm not linking that, it's nasty.  
> 2) Rafael Maymo is Rafa's physio and has been joined at the hip with him for years. They're incredibly close, best friends. For pictures and more details, see the end notes.  
> 3) "Titín" is Rafa's affectionate nickname for Maymo. It's stuck more generally.  
> 4) Everything is ~actually happening in Mallorcan Catalan, not English, as that's Rafa & Maymo's first language.
> 
> This is fiction, and nothing is implied about the actual lives and relationship of Rafa and Maymo.

“C’mere,” Titín says, after the match, in the warm loud space of the locker room. Toni’s been temporarily distracted by something shiny, and he has the triumphant, sweaty victor to himself for one brief moment. “Let me look at the blister.”

“I will kill you,” Rafa tells him, quite seriously.

Titín tries not to grin. The whole world is curious about the bubbling crater of pain in Rafa’s left hand, riveted by ghoulish fascination, and Rafa’s got about as pissy as he can get about the attention in recent days. (Which is to say, not incredibly pissy, because Rafa’s as easily distracted as his uncle when he’s not on a tennis court, but pissy enough to get a bit intense in all the ways that make Titín’s mouth go a little dry.)

Instead of grinning, he arches an eyebrow instead. “It _is_ my job.”

Rafa sighs, rolling his eyes, and holds his hand out with bad grace. “It’s fine.”

“My job to know if it’s fine,” Titín says, and takes it, gently, running his thumb up the un-injured side of Rafa’s palm.

Rafa’s hand is much like Rafa himself – capable, big, and a bit sweaty. Titín knows it as well as he knows every inch of Rafa’s body, learned over the years together. Rafa’s body is more familiar to him than his own, charted and tracked and maintained with painstaking care, optimized and perfected so that its owner can push it beyond normal human limits. 

“It’s not like I just had surgery, like Murray,” Rafa says, still sounding annoyed. “It’s a blister. Makes serving a bit trickier, and sure, it hurts, but do they really think a little pain is important?”

Titín does smile at that. “Our superhero laughs in the face of pain…”

“Oh, shut up,” Rafa says, though the annoyance melts out of his face instantly, replaced by laughter. “You know what I mean.”

He does. They went through them together, all those endless months, uncertain whether Rafa would even be able to play again, or if he’d ever be the champion he once was. If Titín closes his eyes, he can still see the frozen lines of Rafa’s face that meant more surely than anything that he was in pain, can hear the little small hurt noises Rafa made in the night when he shifted the wrong way in his sleep, can feel the way Rafa reached for his hand when they brought out the needles. A blister’s pain, after that?

He must have been silent a moment too long. Rafa understands him as well as he understands Rafa, and he’s the sharpest observer Titín knows. 

“Hey,” Rafa says, softly, and turns his hand, threading their fingers together. His thumb brushes over Titín’s pulse point, and Titín exhales, a quiet shuddery sound caught between them. 

Sometimes he daydreams about telling the world, about tipping his head up to be kissed when Rafa climbs into their box, clay-encrusted and shining with victory. He imagines the shocked faces of the crowd, the warmth of Rafa’s arms around him, the feeling of Rafa’s bandana coming undone underneath his fingers.

But in the end, he always shakes his head and turns back to his work. That time will come someday, perhaps; for now, he couldn’t be closer to Rafa than he already is, and the public furor isn’t worth it. He knows better than anyone else how much Rafa needs stability and harmony, how carefully-balanced his world and his mind are, and going public would throw everything into chaos. They’ve fought through the difficult months together, and now Rafa is on the brink of yet another grand slam, only one match away from winning them all twice. Titín’s not about to risk that.

Besides, it may not be a public kiss – Titín thinks he probably wouldn’t like a public kiss anyway, as millions of people watching would make his head swim – but Rafa’s fingers are twined with his in the locker room of the Australian Open, clear as daylight to anyone with eyes to see, and Rafa’s face is soft with a private light. 

“Hey,” Titín echoes, and presses Rafa’s fingers, lightly, just to feel Rafa’s answering press in return. He clears his throat, and smiles. “So, all that worrying about Roger was silly.”

“It wasn’t silly at all,” Rafa says, immediately, his eyebrow shooting up. He’s trying not to laugh, though, Titín can see it in the lines around his mouth, the dimple struggling not to appear. “Roger’s always so tough, and he’s played great lately. You know as well as I do that sometimes on court things don’t go as planned. Stan beat Novak!”

Titín mimes writing something down in a notebook with his free hand. “We should remember to send him a fruit basket.”

“What I’m saying is,” Rafa says, sailing on with aplomb, “that anything can happen on any day. Worrying about Rog – and I wasn’t _worrying_ , I was _preparing_ , that’s an important difference - wasn’t silly, it was very smart.”

Titín grins. “Well, as long as you don’t worry too hard about Stan.”

Worrying gives Rafa insomnia, and while Titín-as-boyfriend doesn’t object to being woken up in the middle of the night by an armful of intent and desire, Titín-as-physio doesn’t think the interrupted sleep (and various other, ahem, nighttime shenanigans) are the best match preparation Rafa could be having.

Rafa wrinkles his nose. “Stan isn’t the same Stan I’ve played before, he’s just beat Novak and then won his first semifinal, he’s going to come out there full of belief and aggression. I’ll have to play my best game…”

“You certainly will!” Toni interrupts, looming up next to them, and their little private moment is over. 

Titín tunes out their discussion of Wawrinka, and turns Rafa’s hand back over in his. For all that Rafa’s annoyed by all the press it’s getting, the blister _is_ important, and it needs careful observation.

Before he gets down to it, though, he traces his thumb up Rafa’s, a surreptitious caress.

Rafa’s thumb curls against his in answer, and Titín smiles, and sets to work.

**Author's Note:**

> So, Rafa and Titín!
> 
> First, here's Rafa on Titín (from Rafa's autobiography):
>
>> Take Titín away from my team and I’d be forlorn. I don’t know how his absence would affect my game, but it certainly would my happiness. Always by my side during tournaments, he is the first person I turn to when I have a problem. He’s my physical therapist, and he is excellent at what he does, but, were he to move on, filling the void of friendship he’d leave behind would be almost impossible. Not only is he a very good person, he is unfailingly honest. If he needs to say something to you, he’ll tell it to you straight. ( _Rafa_ )
> 
> And now here are some pictures.
> 
> Rafa and Titín together:
> 
> Titín giving Rafa a massage:
> 
> Rafa and Titín on a date:
> 
> Titín stretching Rafa out:
> 
> Titín cracking Rafa up:
> 
> Here's [another picture](http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/35/obpm.jpg). Or how about Rafa and Titín all [up close and personal](http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/545/t1e1.jpg)? Rafa jumping off a boat with Titín [on his back](http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/801/yxm1.jpg)? Rafa and Titin caught in a [funny position](http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/689/vxnd.jpg)? Walking on court together [all sweetly](http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/713/9nph.jpg)?
> 
> Here's Rafa and Titín working with a [rubber band](http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/543/3cs4.jpg). Or how about Rafa and Titín [with some hardware](http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/703/uj0h.jpg)? Maybe you'd like shirtless Rafa consulting with [Titín and his notebooks](http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/163/mmfi.jpg)? Titín fixing [a minor injury](http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/534/e9rr.jpg)? Titín and Rafa hanging out [at home?](http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/838/urt5.jpg)
> 
> Here they are [being weird together](http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/811/ctkv.jpg). Here's Titín snapping pictures of [his boyfriend](http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/850/mbs3.jpg). And Rafa and Titín [on another date](http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/706/57b1.jpg)! Plus Titín giving you the side-eye for [getting too close](http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/811/4ot1.jpg). And the two of them [playing videogames](http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/34/5me9.jpg). And being all [cute together](http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/36/4vu4.jpg).
> 
> And finally, the picture that inspired this fic:
> 
> Don't they look like they've just been holding hands under the table? :)
> 
> Basically, they are the cutest, and they're glued together, and I love them to bits. Rafa's FaceTime picture is even the two of them together. :) So of course I ship them - and I hope by now you do too. :)


End file.
